Luke Jensen talks about what it was like to be #1 in the world
BONUS Episode
Luke Jensen
A clip of 1993 French Open grand slam winner Luke Jensen talking about being #1 in the world in the juniors.
Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com
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Transcript
[MUSIC]
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
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Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, powered by Go Tennis.
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Speaker:In this clip, Luke Jensen talks about what it's like to be number one in the world.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:[MUSIC]
Speaker:Bobby, I know you want to ask the question.
Speaker:We're talking about rankings matter and Luke, you were well ranked,
Speaker:not just in the United States as a junior.
Speaker:And Bobby, I know you had something specifically you were talking about that was
Speaker:about Luke's feelings or how his pressure, I'm sure Luke doesn't,
Speaker:doesn't come across as a guy who handles pressure well.
Speaker:But well, just what it's like to be number one in the world at anything.
Speaker:You were the number one ranked junior in the world for two years.
Speaker:>> Well, no, well, yeah, well, clarify that.
Speaker:It always gets the older I get that's that back and
Speaker:real thing, the better I was.
Speaker:I was number one for a little bit.
Speaker:and:Speaker:And then semis of the French quarters a Wimbledon going into the US Open
Speaker:after winning the hard courts, the Clay Courts.
Speaker:And I think around the 16 or quarters of Kalamazoo,
Speaker:like in that window, I was number one for like a cup of coffee and
Speaker:then this guy Mark Crapzman overtook me.
Speaker:He won the US Open juniors in Australia.
Speaker:And I went semis of Orange Bowl and I won this Rolex indoors to finish my year in 84.
Speaker:So I finished number two, but I'll take that got there for a little bit in the summer of 84.
Speaker:But it was really remarkable because four years prior,
Speaker:I was the number two ranked player in Northern Michigan.
Speaker:It's not a section, it's a district and
Speaker:it's in the heartland basically big foot lives there.
Speaker:And it's Detroit's in the south and Kalamazoo and
Speaker:Grand Rapids in the southern part of the state.
Speaker:So in this little district, I was ranked two and there were two guys ranked.
Speaker:And the reason I got to go to sectionals is because they took the two best out of that district of every age group.
Speaker:And even though I lost O&O in the 14 and
Speaker:under I was given the opportunity because there was only two guys eligible.
Speaker:And then I went down the sectionals and that was really my first time of really seeing national caliber players.
Speaker:And kids that were sponsored, kids that were ranked number one from Chicago Detroit.
Speaker:Nationally played international things.
Speaker:So that was my first time of seeing in person, you know, high level junior tennis.
Speaker:And in:Speaker:here and breakfast at Wimbledon Bud Collins.
Speaker:And it was Borg versus Roscoe Tanner, this fire breathing lefty from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.
Speaker:And it was five sets and it just Borg never missed.
Speaker:And he he just never, you know, got upset with line calls.
Speaker:There was something about the Iceman that drew me to the game that and tennis was going from the country clubs to the public parks.
Speaker:It was the tennis boom of the 70s.
Speaker:And I was hitting the wave as it was just really about to crest because that's when the boom in a northern part of the country start building tennis houses indoor tennis clubs.
Speaker:So now the kids in the north could play your route.
Speaker:And we not only could equal what the kids in the south Florida, Texas, California were doing.
Speaker:But we could play longer because if they got rain for a week, they didn't play.
Speaker:We could play before school after school.
Speaker:And there's way more to my story, but I had the right coach at the right time.
Speaker:I both my parents were high school coaches.
Speaker:My dad coached football and tennis, which is an interesting combination, but it kind of was part of our mindset.
Speaker:I kind of think like a football player and try to figure out how to play that in tennis and then my mom was a gymnastics coach as well as a Fizzett teacher.
Speaker:So being around a coaching environment where kids in the community was really the key aspect of contributing to the next generation of leaders and learning that work ethic.
Speaker:And then to be honest, my first coach, Sky Don Dickinson was down in Grand Rapids.
Speaker:And he taught me how to put the ball in the court because I used to hit over the fence, the side fence, anything but in the court was my game.
Speaker:And he there was a moment where I had a kind of a come to Jesus, whereas either you keep the ball into court 25.
Speaker:I lost a turn of a match.
Speaker:And again, another time just missing too much and there was this ball, a game or drill that he had called 25 ball drill.
Speaker:And you had to put the ball in 25 times and that side one side or the other and he would tee off.
Speaker:He'd get the whole court. I had the one side.
Speaker:And so I'm, you know, 14.
Speaker:I'm a eighth grader and ninth grade.
Speaker:And he's, I have to keep the ball deep.
Speaker:I have to keep the ball in.
Speaker:And every time I got upset, I'd run a three mile loop and we called it running the circle or something.
Speaker:And so I just kept on getting upset running three miles.
Speaker:And I had to come back and you know, you just had to break that habit of missing and get into finding that rally ball, finding depth, finding consistency.
Speaker:And that was really the moment because he said you either leave the court and never come back or you figure it out.
Speaker:And for me, I figured it out.
Speaker:We have this thing in our family called Jensen's Never Quit.
Speaker:And I figured that out.
Speaker:And that was the first time like I could really understand instead of hitting tennis balls, I was actually playing tennis instead of hitting it.
Speaker:I was playing the game for the first time and two years later, Dickinson moved to two sun Arizona, starting Academy out there.
Speaker:And you know, back in the day, the Easter Bowl used to be played and the copper bowl at this Elken, Keistedore resort.
Speaker:But it was too far away from home and I ran into the sky, Brian Marcus, who was at the Atlanta Athletic Club for years and years.
Speaker:But when he was in Michigan, he taught me the big game.
Speaker:So I'm a sophomore now.
Speaker:I'm nationally ranked and all of a sudden I'm serving in volume.
Speaker:I'm six foot two, serving one left handed, right handed.
Speaker:And Dickinson helped me do that and incorporate those two weapons.
Speaker:And then, you know, two years later, I'm the number one junior in the world.
Speaker:Singles and doubles, doubles with Patrick McEnroe.
Speaker:But it was this four year window where I had the right coaches at the right time, parents who just judged us on effort.
Speaker:I got, I loved approval from my parents and if I came off the court, whether it's practice or a match and my knees were bloody from diving for balls and elbows were bloody.
Speaker:I mean, that was always like I got a lot of high fives and hugs from my parents.
Speaker:And I've never got, or my sisters or my brother ever got jacked up for losing a match.
Speaker:If our effort wasn't there, we'd get jacked up.
Speaker:If we won, oh no, but our intensity wasn't there, focus wasn't there.
Speaker:We get, you know, you know, scolded and things.
Speaker:But I just had the right parents, the right, you know, my siblings who were in the game, played the grand slams and then having the right coaches.
Speaker:And that was blessed to go to USC that had Dick Leach who's a Hall of Fame.
Speaker:Leach at coach, I roamed with a son who won eight grand slams.
Speaker:Rick Leach was on the US Davis Cup team with me in 91 and 92 and he won Davis Cup a bunch of other years.
Speaker:And I just, you know, you got to be in front of good people.
Speaker:And so being number one was a byproduct.
Speaker:A lot of people, they were always believing that, yeah, you can serve with both hands.
Speaker:It hit over us with both hands.
Speaker:Yeah, you can come from nowhere.
Speaker:And become a pro tennis player and watching that 79 Wimbledon's like, that's the coolest sport.
Speaker:I want to go there.
Speaker:I want to win that tournament.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
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Speaker:And with that, we're out.
Speaker:See you next time.
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